The images are unmistakable: The crossover. The shot. The win. The exuberance.
Connecticut guard Kemba Walker beat Pittsburgh with that jumper in the quarterfinals of the Big East Tournament that the Huskies eventually won. He is the player no team wants to face. He is big-time to the core, wants the spotlight, thrives on pressure and all the while still keeps his teammates involved. Games can be changed by one player. Championships can be won on the back of a star. At UConn, Walker is that guy. He is one of the nation’s most electrifying scorers — he began the season with a stretch of five games of 29 or more points. And though opponents keyed in on him in a similar fashion to the approach taken toward BYU’s Jimmer Fredette, Walker never wavered. He was the Big East Tournament MVP, having scored a tournament-record 130 points in five games and is one of the most unguardable forces in the NCAA Tournament. Walker loves winning. Few collect them in as exciting a fashion.
West Regional
Favorite: Duke
The Blue Devils are the defending national champions and consensus choice to get out of this bracket, and those chances do nothing but improve if star freshman guard Kyrie Irving is able to return to the team during the tournament, as he is suggesting. Duke finished the season strong, winning the ACC Tournament title over arch-rival North Carolina. Nolan Smith and Kyle Singler are big-time players and the Plumlee brothers are improving by the week.
Sleeper: Missouri
The Tigers, with the old “40 minutes of hell” style of basketball, are always a tough matchup for all who haven’t seen them before, as will be the case again. Add to that Big 12 first-team selection junior guard Marcus Denmon and the Tigers go from tough to handle to downright deadly.
Upset alert
Arizona boasts one of the nation’s best players in forward Derrick Williams, the Pac-10 player of the year, but it has had some inexplicable losses this season at weird moments. Memphis is a team stuffed full of young talent that is starting to play its best basketball at the right time. The Tigers are the seventh-youngest team in the country, but that youth is maturing quickly and could be primed to send the Pac-10 Wildcats home earlier than expected.
Bracket breakdown
Duke is at the top of the heap, but there are a lot of quality challengers. San Diego State may be the most underrated “good” team in the tournament. Kawhi Leonard is a devastating rebounder for an older and more experienced Aztecs squad. Texas was as high as No. 2 in the coaches’ poll at one point. Arizona won the regular- season Pac-10 title; UConn won the Big East Tournament with five wins in five days. Arguably no bracket has more teams that could win the title than this one.
